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Case Reports
. 2010:30:174-6.

Marjolin's ulcer: incidental diagnosis of squamous cell carcinoma on hemipelvectomy for recalcitrant pelvic osteomyelitis

William Lack, Todd McKinley
Case Reports

Marjolin's ulcer: incidental diagnosis of squamous cell carcinoma on hemipelvectomy for recalcitrant pelvic osteomyelitis

William Lack et al. Iowa Orthop J. 2010.

Abstract

Hemipelvectomy is a radical surgical procedure reserved for particularly devastating pathology including recalcitrant pelvic osteomyelitis. We describe the incidental diagnosis of a metastatic squamous cell carcinoma by pathology after hemipelvectomy for pelvic osteomyelitis. This tumor was located deep within the chronic wound and deemed to be a Marjolin's ulcer (malignant transformation within a chronic wound). There are multiple reports and case series describing hemipelvectomy for tumor or infection, as well as one case report of a tumor arising years after successful surgical treatment of a chronic decubitus ulcer, but we were unable to find any describing the diagnosis of a Marjolin's ulcer at pathology following hemipelvectomy for osteomyelitis. This case demonstrates the diagnostic dilemma of malignant transformation within a chronic wound and is an opportunity to highlight the interventions necessary to prevent such progression.

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Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
9/8/09 preoperative pelvis x-ray.
Figure 2
Figure 2
10/31/09 - postoperative CT.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

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